Inactive

THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: This is a market research tool being used for information only to determine the availability and adequacy of eligible business sources in orde... THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: This is a market research tool being used for information only to determine the availability and adequacy of eligible business sources in order to meet FEMA NFIP Program needs. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this SSN or any follow up information requests. The Government is not obligated to and will not pay for any information received from industry sources as a result of this SSN. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the SSN or resulting market research. GENERAL INFORMATION: This RFI is issued solely for information gathering purposes. A response to this RFI is not an offer and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government for any purpose, nor does it restrict the Government to any programmatic or acquisition approach. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with their RFI response. FEMA will respond to any questions received in response to this RFI solely at its discretion. BACKGROUND: The Federal Insurance Directorate (FID), an organization within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Resilience, manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In 1968, Congress created the NFIP to provide a means for property owners to financially protect themselves since standard homeowners’ insurance does not cover losses due to flooding. The NFIP offers flood insurance to homeowners, renters, and business owners if their communities participate in the NFIP. More than 22,500 communities participate in the program and have agreed to adopt and enforce ordinances that meet or exceed FEMA requirements to reduce the risk of flooding. The NFIP offers flood insurance that can be purchased directly from FEMA’s NFIP Direct, or through approximately 60 private Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance companies that have entered into a Financial Assistance/Subsidy arrangement (the “arrangement” codified at 44 C.F.R. Part 62, Appendix A). These companies are referred to as Write Your Own or WYO companies. Rates are set nationally and do not differ from company to company or agent to agent. The rates depend on many factors, including the type of construction and distance and elevation relative to flooding sources. Flood insurance protects two types of insurable property: building and contents. As FEMA strives to increase climate resilience, ensure equitable access and outcomes for all citizens, and promote and sustain a ready FEMA and nation, it is imperative that FEMA enable the digital sale and servicing of flood insurance to increase the number of people covered. FEMA calls this initiative “Direct to Customer” or “D2C”. While the NFIP is the world’s largest single peril insurance company, covering nearly 5 million policyholders with an annual premium of $3.5 billion and $1.3 trillion insurance in force, only 4% of structures in the United States are covered. As climate change continues, flood risks are increasing across the country with flooding events occurring in all 50 states and 99% of counties in the United States since 1996. In order to close the nation’s flood insurance gap, the D2C Initiative has several goals: • Achieve more equitable flood insurance outcomes by designing a new digital customer experience for selling and servicing NFIP policies. • Improve climate resilience by providing digital solutions that make flood insurance more accessible and affordable to consumers and businesses. • Reduce disaster suffering by utilizing digital solutions to make NFIP operations more efficient and more effective before, during and after flood events. SUBMISSION OF CAPABILITY PACKAGES: Interested parties shall submit their SSN responses electronically to Judith Hicklin, Contracting Officer, at Judith.Hicklin@fema.dhs.gov no later than 10:00 AM Eastern Time (ET), January 5, 2024. Response Submittal Instructions: As FEMA designs its approach to fill this critical mission need, it seeks feedback from industry and insurance practitioners from all backgrounds. “SSN Response for Direct to Customer Capability (D2C) for the NFIP” shall be in the subject line of your email. Please review the questions below and provide a written response by January 5, 2024. Responses should be no more than ten (10) 8.5” by 11” pages and utilize a reasonably sized font (e.g. Times New Roman 12pt.) Responders are encouraged, but not required to answer all questions below. In addition to your up to 10-page response, please include a cover sheet explaining you or your organization’s role and experience with the NFIP if any, as well as the following: ? Business Name ? Unique Entity ID ? Cage Code ? Point of Contact Information ? Current Business Size (i.e. HUBZone small business concern, service-disabled veteranowned small business firm, 8(a) contractor, woman-owned small business, small business, or large business concern). Please submit your responses to Judith Hicklin at Judith.hicklin@fema.dhs.gov no later than 10:00 AM EST January 5, 2024. QUESTIONS GENERAL 1. FEMA is exploring a range of agreement models for delivering a Direct to Customer capability (D2C) for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). What type of agreements would your company be interested in offering the NFIP for a D2C solution (e.g. Software as a Service model, developing a custom solution, selling a full solution, etc.)? 2. Many companies have expressed that their platform has existing direct to customer capabilities that could be deployed immediately or could be built rapidly through lowcode configurations. a. How long would you need to build and/or present a functional prototype the NFIP could interact with? b. Is there anything the NFIP should consider when designing a potential prototyping program? 3. What quoting and sales transaction volume would you anticipate for a D2C solution in the first year after implementation and what growth would you anticipate in subsequent years? 4. While implementing a direct sales platform will reduce some burden and barriers to customers, it alone will not drive demand for NFIP products. Apart from pricing, how would you recommend we increase demand for policy purchase? 5. How do you envision the agent community utilizing and/or leveraging your D2C platform to help increase the number of people covered by flood insurance? 6. Would your company provide a live demonstration of your existing D2C flood insurance solution? 7. If the NFIP were to create a ‘flood insurance premium quoting tool’ that generated leads for industry, how would you recommend agents be displayed to the customer and leads distributed to industry in an equitable manner? TECHNICAL 1. Is your D2C solution mobile browser and mobile app ready? 2. Describe your ideal technical ecosystem (sales, customer relationship management, claims, etc.) and how it would interact with different users and systems? 3. Describe how you would integrate your D2C solution with other insurance lines from a technical perspective? 4. What type of marketing analytics are available in your solution? 5. What type of user experience analytics are available in your solution? 6. If your solution is a ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) is it FedRamp certified or able to be FedRamp certified? 7. Is your solution able to be hosted in the FEMA Cloud Environment?